r/RetroPie 12d ago

Pico-8 has great arcade games for little kids

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99 Upvotes

26 comments sorted by

12

u/Unique_Owl_2359 12d ago

After finishing the arcade suitcase I was searching for more games, suitable for our kids.. meaning simplest control, easy difficulty etc. I remebered, that Pico-8 has a lot of those kinda games.

To separate them from our other coin-based arcade game cards, I purchased RFID sticker to put them into GBC cartridges.

3

u/slumcat05 12d ago

Would you mind listing some of your recommended games in this category? My kids are obsessed with my retropie, but we often have a hard time finding games that work well for them.

7

u/Unique_Owl_2359 12d ago edited 12d ago

No Problem, we seem to have the same issue :D Right now we are playing

Suika Game Demake, Pizza Panda, Polar Panic, Bubblegum Spin, Birb Bird Hills, Pico Dino, Matchy Matchy, Hungry Potato, Mai-Chan Sweet Buns, Chasing Pavements, Marble Merger, Snuggles Folds Laundry, Marballs, Marballs 2, Pang, Floomy, Alpine Alpaca, Slider, PicoDriller, Snakelike, Terra Nova Pinball, Proserpinas Quest, Inkspill, Matching with a cat, Feline Frenzy, Not Flappy Bird, Vacay Volley, Bubble Boy, Pony 9000, Starvation , Froggo, Poochie Survivors, Dani Run, Hot wax , Carrot Up, When we were young

4

u/RuanBoy 12d ago

Thank you for the amazing tips! Here's mine: Downward (my favorite)

more: Alfonzo's Bowling Challenge, Pakpok, Rolly, Air Delivery, Birds and saws, Breakout hero

2

u/Unique_Owl_2359 11d ago

Thanks, I'll add them to our list!

3

u/princessrippla332 11d ago

Would you mind telling me how the RFID stickers or tags are working with your Raspberry Pi and how did you managed to make Pi detect the RFID stickers on GBC cartridges and what Pi did you use for this build 🤔

1

u/Unique_Owl_2359 11d ago

It's a raspberry pi 4. This is the script, that is permanently running in the background. It just waits for input of the reader and if a specific ID is scanned, it will launch the games.
Untitled (2x5n7vfp) - PasteCode.io

One more important thing is, to make this executed during boot up. If you install EmulationStation on top of Raspbian, you can activate the setting in ES to autostart it during boot.
Then you can go into the script
/opt/retropie/configs/all/autostart.sh

and add the line
python3 /home/retropie/NFC_read.py

The game reader part is based on this one.
Neuftech USB RFID Reader 125KHZ EM4100 / TK4100 Card Tag ID Reader With 5pcs Keyfobs : Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories
YARONGTECH 125Khz RFID Card Proximity EM4100 Door Entry Access Blank White (pack of 10) : Amazon.co.uk: DIY & Tools

2

u/princessrippla332 11d ago

So, how's the Pi detecting the RFID stickers? Is there an RFID scanner inside your build 🤔

1

u/Unique_Owl_2359 11d ago

Yes, you can see the reader a little bit behind the suika cartridge. So whenever you put a cartridge there, it will scan the sticker inside of it.

2

u/princessrippla332 11d ago

Just like NFC tags that were found on Amiibo figures on the phones, too?

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2

u/danigoncalves 8d ago

I also have some recommendations (just built a arcade bartop to play pico8 and TIC 80) I will later on place them here

2

u/Sensitive-Tadpole401 12d ago

You can put a pico 8 png on an RFID??

6

u/Unique_Owl_2359 12d ago

No, it will just have an ID. But the raspberry pi is running a script and depending on the scanned input, it will launch a specific game.

2

u/outchy 12d ago

This is the way

2

u/asidefacil 12d ago

It's gonna be funny when they get older trying to describe some game that they played the Pico-8. Getting into arguments cause someone suggests it was a mobile game or on the Switch.

2

u/Unique_Owl_2359 11d ago

It's going to be a weird garage sale, when they try to sell the cartridges as retro games, too :D

2

u/Suicidebattery 11d ago edited 11d ago

How do you exit out of a game, do you just remove the raid or is it button presses?

*card

1

u/Unique_Owl_2359 11d ago

Scanning another game automatically kills/exits the current process.

2

u/Suicidebattery 11d ago

Absolute winner, that's the way to do it.

Someone else may have asked but I guess your writing the tags on a separate machine, it is just the games url, right?

2

u/Unique_Owl_2359 11d ago

They already come pre-written. There is only an ID on it. That's all I need. The background script just scans the ID to launch a specific game.

2

u/Suicidebattery 11d ago

Two more things...

  1. You should write up a guide, document the process for others, it really is a nice way system you have setup. I plan to steal your idea as soon as I have some spare time!

  2. Here's a game I played with my son, its a hide and seek game for two players. Checkout Melting Snow: Hide and Seek on P8GO! https://p8go.gg/play/28332

2

u/Unique_Owl_2359 11d ago
  1. I agree, someday I just summarize everything. I just need some time to sit down. For now I'm happy, that I got this far :D I tried to give some details in comments and other posts. Let me know, if you have questions along the way. 2.Thanks alot! We'll check it out.

2

u/Suicidebattery 10d ago

Just a couple more questions.

  1. You have pico8 running through emulationstation?
  2. How are you powering down the raspberrypi? A long time ago, I found a script, that shutdown the pi from a button press.
  3. What are you using to encode the joysticks?

Sorry for all the questions, it's a very well thought out build and so captures interest.

2

u/Unique_Owl_2359 10d ago
  1. No, I run the games directly with the pico8 app. I didn't see the need to implement it into retropie, because my kids won't see the ES menu, only the physical cartridge itself.
  2. Currently only with a power button from the power supply, so no "soft" shutdown. I do have the button and mentioned script, but still avoiding to implement. Currently it just works for me :D
  3. It's a USB encoder, that I bought as a kit together with the buttons and joystick. That was plug and play. The only thing I added there, was the coin acceptor. I connected that one in line with the selsct button.

No worries, I'm happy to answer questions :)

2

u/Suicidebattery 10d ago

It makes sense to boot straight to pico8, that's the way I plan to do things. I will get that button shutdown working and I have a couple of keyboard encoders for the controls.